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Bird tourism is so important to the municipality of Aspe that the tourist office has compiled a special brochure on this subject. This mini-booklet focuses on the weekly gatherings of volunteers who want to help ring the many birds in the area. The town near Elche and the nature reserve El Hondo is a paradise for birds. Since bird ringing began in 2002, so much information has been gathered that ornithologists know how enormously important the Vinalopó River near Aspe is as a migration route for countless birds. Many birds use the course of the river on their journey to avoid the harsh winters in the north on their way to Africa.
The ringing takes place at various locations in the nature reserve of Aspe. Among other things, at the mouth of the Tarifa river, which is the main tributary of the Vinalopó. After catching the birds, they are ringed and provided with a code. When a bird is caught again, it provides valuable information about the animal's origin, how far it has flown and how long it took. The work could help the researchers to help improve the living conditions of the birds where possible. Similar activities are carried out in 69 ring stations across Spain.
The council hopes to kill two birds with one stone with the brochure. On the one hand, it points out how interesting the nature around Aspe is for bird watchers. Just as important, however, is to continually recruit new volunteers to participate in weekly stake activities, which are rewarding as well as very time consuming and labor intensive.
